Ruckus at Panchayat Meeting in Patna

Details: Category: More News; Created on Friday, 14 September 2012 01:29

Disgruntled Panchayati delegates create ruckus at Chief Minister's meeting.

Patna: In what was supposed to be yet another routine public meeting by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the training camp for the Panchayat representatives at the Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna turned out anything but routine as a number of reps disrupted the meeting demanding to speak their minds before the scheduled speech by the Chief Minister.

Pandemonium broke out immediately after the speech by Panchayati Raj Minister Dr. Bheem Singh as nearly a dozen or so Panchayat representatives shouted anti-administration slogans while demanding to be allowed to be heard before the Chief Minister's address.

Nitish Kumar at Panchayat meeting at S. K. Memorial Hall in Patna on Thursday.Amidst the melee, Kumar began his speech but was interrupted a number of times forcing the security officials to spring into action in an attempt to contain the rebellion.

Things finally calmed down after the Chief Minister promised to listen to their grievances at the end of his speech.

Kumar, in his address, announce the decision of the state government to build Panchayat Sarkar Bhawan in each of the 8,442 panchayats to be built at a cost of Rs. 82 lakh each.

Later, Kumar listened to the angry delegates who told them about their frustration with the administration for taking away the responsibilities of BPL, Indira Awaas Yojana, and old-age retirement from the hands of Panchayat officials and giving them away to the Vikas Mitra volunteers.

The disgruntled representatives, led by Krishna Kumari Yadav and Mohan Mukul, asked the Chief Minister to constitute a Panchayati cadre to deal with local issues.

Dr. Singh also listened to the delegate at the end of the meeting and asked department Principal Secretary Amitabh Verma to note down all of their demands so the government could give them a fair consideration.